Tendring Hundred Water Services Limited supplies drinking water to about 140,000 people living in the Tendring peninsula of Essex. Over two thirds of the Company's water supplies come from boreholes. The remainder comes from the River Colne. The Company has two treatment works and distributes water through 946 km of pipes and 7 service reservoirs.
Each year water companies are inspected. The 1995 inspection found that the Company's arrangements for sampling and reporting were generally very good and that treatment processes and progress with improvement programmes were generally satisfactory. Arrangements for analysis were found to be generally satisfactory although some areas required improvement. Five recommendations for improvements were made to the Company mainly concerning analytical arrangements.
The quality of the water supplied by the Company in 1995 has been generally very good. 99.6% of the 6,044 tests performed by the Company met the standards - the tests were largely made on samples taken from consumers' taps. Of the 0.4% of tests that did not meet the standards some were for coliform bacteria. Every time these bacteria were detected the cause was investigated and any problems identified were corrected. Other tests that did not meet the standard were for nitrite and the Company has completed an appropriate improvement programme.
The graph above shows the continued good water quality over the past five years. The Company, as it must, plans to improve the quality even further. It has given a legally binding commitment to take steps to improve its water mains. Iron arises from old water mains and the Company is replacing or repairing these. These improvements will extend beyond December 1996.
Further information
If you want more detailed information about quality of drinking water in your local area please contact the Company. Their telephone number is 01206 399250. | 
